The Complete Short Stories of Roald Dahl in the first of two unsettling and sinister volumes. "They are brutal, these stories, and yet you finish reading each one with a smile, or maybe even a hollow laugh, certainly a shiver of gratification, because the conclusion always seems so right". (Charlie Higson, from his introduction). Roald Dahl is one of the most popular writers of the modern age, effortlessly writing for children and adults alike. In this, the first of two volumes chronologically collecting all his published adult short stories, we see how Dahl began by using his experiences in the war to write fiction but quickly turned to his powerful and dark imagination to pen some of the most unsettling and disquieting tales ever written. In 27 stories, written between 1944 and 1953,

Topping and tailing this collection are "The Visitor and "Bitch", stories featuring Dahl's notorious hedonist Oswald Hendryks Cornelius (or plain old Uncle Oswald) whose exploits are frequently as extraordinary as they are scandalous. In the middle, meanwhile, are "The Great Switcheroo" and "The Last Act", two stories exploring a darker side of desire and pleasure. In the black comedies of "Switch Bitch", Roald Dahl brilliantly captures the ins and outs, highs and lows of sex.

Is it really possible to invent a machine that does the job of a writer? What is it about a landlady's house that makes it so hard for her guests to leave? Does Sir Basil Turton value most his wife or one of his priceless sculptures? Here are thirteen of Roald Dahl's most unexpected tales, offering young readers the perfect introduction to the adult writing of a storytelling genius. From the sensitivity of stories such as "Katina" to the surprising creepiness of "Taste", these stories are full of all the fun, excitement and wonder of Roald Dahl's writing, offering originality, ingenuity, horror, unexpected twists and turns, a touch of the macabre - and much more besides.

What could go wrong when a wife pawns the mink coat that her lover gave her as a parting gift? What happens when a priceless piece of furniture is the subject of a deceitful bargain? Can a wronged woman take revenge on her dead husband? In these dark, disturbing stories Roald Dahl explores the sinister side of human nature: the cunning, sly, selfish part of each of us that leads us into the territory of the unexpected and unsettling. Stylish, macabre and haunting, these tales will leave you with a delicious feeling of unease. The stories are: "The Landlady", "William and Mary", "The Way Up To Heaven", "Parson's Pleasure", "Mrs Bixby and the Colonel's Coat", "Royal Jelly", "Georgy Porgy", "Genesis and Catastrophe", "Edward the Conqueror", "Pig", and "The Champion of the World".

This title presents ten tales of life as a wartime fighter pilot, from the master of the short story, Roald Dahl. During the Second World War Roald Dahl served in the RAF and even suffered horrific injuries in an air crash in the Libyan desert. Drawing on his own experiences as a fighter pilot, Dahl crafted these ten spine-tingling stories: of air battles in the sky; of the nightmare of being shot down; the infectious madness of conflict; and, the nervy jollity of the Mess and Ops room. Dahl brilliantly conveys the bizarre reality of a wartime pilot's daily existence, where death is a constant companion and life is lived from one heartbeat to the next. Stories include: "Death of an Old Man", "An African Story", "A Piece of Cake", "Madame Rosette", "Katina", "Yesterday was Beautiful", "

Who better to choose the ultimate in spine-chillers than Roald Dahl, whose own sinister stories have teased and twisted the imagination of millions? Here are fourteen of his favourite ghost stories, including Sheridan Le Fanu's "The Ghost of a Hand", Edith Wharton's "Afterward", Cynthia Asquith's "The Corner Shop" and Mary Treadgold's "The Telephone".

Enter a brilliant, sinister and wholly unpredictable world. Here you will find the suggestion of other-worldly goings on in a dark story about a swan and a boy; the surprising tale of a wealthy young wastrel who suddenly develops a remarkable new ability; and, meet the hitchhiker whose light-fingers save the day. Stories include: "The Boy Who Talked with Animals", "The Hitch-hiker", "The Mildenhall Treasure", "The Swan", "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar", "Lucky Break", and "A Piece of Cake".

Little Billy doesn't really believe there are monsters in the wood, but the red-hot smoke-belching gruncher is real enough, and so are the tiny minpins, whose minature world is in danger.

'Throughout my young days at school and just afterwards a number of things happened to me that I have never forgotten'. "Boy" is a funny, insightful and at times grotesque glimpse into the early life of Roald Dahl, one of the world's favourite authors. We discover his experiences of the English public school system, the idyllic paradise of summer holidays in Norway, the pleasures (and pains) of the sweetshop, and how it is that he avoided being a Boazer. This is the unadulterated childhood - sad and funny, macabre and delightful - that inspired our most-loved children's writer.

In this collection of Roald Dahl’s finest stories we meet some quite ordinary people who behave in extraordinary ways. There is a man who is sure he can hear plants scream and the wife who discovers a perfect way to get rid of her husband. And there’s a woman who finds an unusual use for a leg of lamb…

The Enormous Crocodile boasts that he is going to eat a child for lunch and he sets out to trick all the children in his attempts for food. But his plots and disguises are foiled by the animals in the jungle - especially by Trunky, the elephant.